Various forms of fasteners have been used in the past to connect several members together. In many situations, bolts have been successfully used. However, as the separating forces become greater due to the increasing sizes of equipment, such as construction equipment, bolt sizes and the ability to properly tension the bolts become limitations. If it is only necessary to hold two or more pieces together without the need of applying tension to the retainer pin, a solid pin may be used and secured by a formed-in-place retainer. An example of such an arrangement is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,995 issued Feb. 3, 1987 by J. A. Garman et al.
Another arrangement for securing two or more members together is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,123 issued Feb. 10, 1976 by J. Matuschek. This arrangement provides the ability to apply a predetermined preload to the assembly and allows the securing of the two members to be accomplished while having access to only one side of the assembly. However, once assembled it appears to be very difficult to easily disassemble.
It is desirable to provide a fastener assembly that not only provides very high retaining forces and can be easily assembled at the job site but can also be easily disassembled at the job site using the same type of service tooling.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.